30 Books in 30 Days, Vol. 2
Book 10/30
I have traditionally really been into most legal thrillers I’ve read. I love all the procedural stuff, and I love watching characters be good at a job I myself would be absolutely abysmal at. There’s also a lot of room for twists and turns, and for all that hard-hitting thematic junk as well. They’re usually fast reads for me. Also, I love a good murder mystery. And this had all of that! In addition to an intriguingly gray plot centered around the questions of the titular Jacob.
A kid named Ben is found murdered and much to the shock and horror of our main character Andy, his son Jacob eventually becomes the main suspect. Andy is an assistant district attorney himself, so he attempts to use his knowledge to help his son, whom he believes is innocent.
An experienced thriller reader could probably see where this is going, but it’s a satisfying story arc nonetheless, and the ending does pack a punch. My problem was the main character, Andy. I just did not like him at all, on an instinctual level. There was such an air of arrogant maleness about him, as if every move he made was designed to uphold the patriarchy, like it was baked in to his genetic code. He’s so self-important in his mannerisms, and though he is a talented attorney, he knows it, and that does not help with the arrogance. I suppose having such a bleh main character like this (for me) isn’t a mistake necessarily, but I couldn’t escape the feeling that Andy was a stand-in for the author, and that just made me dislike the whole thing even more.
I remember this book making the rounds when it was first published, and it being a hit here on CBR (I seem to remember Scootsa reviewing it, and her review being the reason I put it on my TBR), and maybe if I would have read it at the time, I would have really liked it, but 2022 me was kind of unimpressed. Will be sending this back to the used bookstore from whence it came.
